All the Boxes Are Finally Gone!

Unfortunately, we now have a TV. When we heard that the cost of cable was included in our condo dues, both Kory and Kaleb’s face lit up. Our friend, Tobias, loaned us his “not so big” TV (or so he says) out of his bedroom until we find one that fits our space. It’s bigger than any TV we’ve ever had in the U.S. and now dominates our living room landscape. We thought we knew how all the furniture should sit, but there was much discussion today about all new possible venues for maximizing the viewing of the TV. It made me crazy. I hate that television has invaded our home. All afternoon Kaleb was asking to watch it, then not turning it off when requested. It’s one more battle I wish I didn’t have, but I was outvoted. We don’t have TV reception in America in our house, but now we do here. Ugh.



The photo today is of our stylin’ 1940s bedroom set we got for $215 – including dresser, art deco mirror, two beds and mattresses and two night stands. We brought the wall decorations from home. Don’t miss Aunt Ruth’s elephant lamp in the corner. I bought the hand crocheted bed cover last year at a second-hand store for about $60 – a big splurge – but it reminds me of one my grandma made.


Today I was exhausting on more than one level. Besides the whole TV situation, we hauled out all the boxes of Aunt Ruth’s things from Kaleb’s room and took them over to Philadelphia Church (right next door). Cousin Kari had the great idea to unpack everything, group the like items together and set it up like a flea market so the aunts and Kory could see what was there. It filled an entire room in the basement of the church. I can’t believe she had all that stuff in our condo!


Cousin Kari and Kory hauled the boxes over, and Kari and I emptied them. By day’s end all that had been divided up were the linens, towels, sheets, curtains, doilies and table clothes. Most of what Kory got in his third will just be thrown out, but there were a few treasures and useful items I’m glad he got. He still needs to divide his share into fourths and give them to his brothers, but it’s not clear if they will pay for postage to have them sent over to the U.S. or not so we don’t know the “stuff’s” fate just yet.


I had a chance to buy my own STUFF today at another second-hand store in the city. Kory had to go to the “Alien office” (immigration) to see if he could get permission to work for his old boss, who is desperate need of carpenters right now. Kory wants to trade labor on the wall we are going to build for Kaleb’s room. The immigration office said he needed to apply for permission to work and it would take about two months for an answer on whether he could, or not. With that bit of news, I’m not sure how he is going to orchestrate building Kaleb’s bedroom wall, but something tells me he’s sorry he asked.


While he was waiting at the immigration office, I went shopping and found a few more treasures to call my own. I’m getting this place cluttered up fast, which is important for me to feel at home. I can’t believe how cheaply some things sell for as they are genuine antiques and it’s like they are garbage to people here. I’m thankful for that.


Kaleb did some schoolwork today and was responsible enough to do most of it himself. I so need him to be more self-sufficient as there is just too much to do here for me to look over his shoulder every minute. He didn’t fuss at all about not going to play with his friends today, and because of that, I let his PE class be an hour of swimming at the swimming pool just next door. He was thrilled.


My biggest thrill today came about ten o’clock tonight. We bought a used washer and dryer from one of Kory’s cousin’s sons – and he delivered it. They had loaned us that very set when we lived here last year. When we saw them at the Confirmation party on Saturday, we jokingly asked if they wanted to sell it to us – and to our surprise – they agreed. Oh happy day. I now have a load of clothes going and I’m feeling much more settled. It’s been way more work, and taken way more time than I thought to get to this point, but hopefully we are soon at the place where we can relax a bit. If not, I may need the kind of artificial relaxation that only comes in a wine bottle.

A Walk in the Rain

I love Mondays because it’s my day to skip school. I used the quiet time to do some Bible study and prayer. It’s never a bad day if it starts off like that. The sun was shining this morning and I had a strong desire to go for a bike ride or a walk, but I really didn’t want to be gone from a quiet house, as it’s empty so rarely. I told myself I’d get some exercise when Kaleb got home from school, but by then, it was raining. As luck would have it, cousin Kari called up this afternoon and asked if I wanted to go for a hike in the mountains – rain and all. This is where the saying, “There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothes” comes into play. I put on my rain pants and coat and off we went. Surprisingly there were several other people up in the mountains doing the same. It felt pretty good to hike in the rain as the air was so clear and the temperature a bit cooler. We hiked up past the farm called Østrem (see photo of the old barn there), which happens to be the farm where Kory’s grandfather’s family is from. Kory never knew his grandfather, nor did Kory’s mother, Jenny, know her own father. Jenny was illegitimate, the product of two teenagers away from home, working on the same farm for a summer. Their parents thought it best they didn’t get married since they didn’t really love each other so Jenny was raised by a single mom until her mother married another man when Jenny was eight years old. Jenny’s mom and step-dad had three girls together, and they are all the Tantes we love so dearly here in Aalesund. But as we found out in later years, Kory also has a few half uncles and an aunt from the Østrem side of the family.

After Kaleb was born I got very interested in family history and started doing research to find the names of all those who had come before me. I thought it might be nice for Kaleb to learn “from whence he came,” so I began the endless search for dead relatives. I wanted to go back eight generations on all branches, just to see if I could. It took a few years, but I’ve been pretty successful at meeting that goal. On my mom’s side of the family, all her great grandparents came from Norway and I found the location of all the farms they came from, and then I visited them all. It was one of the highlights of my life, as I then went to North Dakota and visited the homestead sites where they landed, so I was able to connect the dots. I had the same desire for Kory’s side of the family but I couldn’t get very far due to this whole illegitimate thing. Families here are good at keeping secrets, so it wasn’t easy to find out information about Jenny’s father. I spent a day down at the local library, reading microfilm and I found Jenny’s birth record, and once I did, I found her father’s name. I then found an old local history book with his name in it and it said where he had lived and the names of his children. I looked in the telephone book to see if any of his children still lived around here, and sure enough, we found one son not far away. So on a trip to Norway ten years ago, Kory called up his Uncle Per and introduced himself and said he would like to meet him. Per was sure Kory had the wrong number because he had never heard his father had an illegitimate daughter, but Kory assured him he did. When Per hung up the phone he told his wife he’d just gotten the strangest phone call. He said a guy from America called to say he was his nephew and that his mom was his half-sister. Per’s wife said, “Yes, that’s right.” Per was shocked. He then asked his wife how she knew this to be true, and she told him she had heard it about fifty years earlier. He asked her why she didn’t say anything to him about it in all these years and she said, “Because it never came up.” And that is an excellent example of the quintessential Norwegian communication style. They just don’t talk about unpleasant personal things. We have since met Per and his wife, and his sister Berit and her husband, but their other brother died before we had a chance to meet him. We were hoping to have dinner with this group of “uekte” relatives last night but they had to postpone. (“Uekte” is the word they used to use for “illegitimate” - it means “not real.”) They are a wonderful group of relatives we are delighted to now know. Jenny had no desire to meet them however as she was terribly embarrassed and injured by the whole scenario and didn’t want to be part of that family. Kory intentionally waited until after she died before asking about her father. (Protocol and pleasantries.) But Jenny’s sister, Tante Berit, is a little bit sad they never met.

Kory came home from work in a sour mood as he hurt his back even more while lifting something today. I didn’t think he should have gone to work, but he did. He was moaning all afternoon, even after taking some ibuprophen and a hot soak in the tub. Poor thing. Kaleb came home from school whining and crying too, but it was just his way of trying to get out of doing homework. He is so tired of doing it and I am so tired of making him. Ugh. I spent all my free time today working on plans for our summer road trip. It’s like shooting at a moving target, but fortunately I’m not tired of it yet.